On Wednesday morning, the New Jersey Devils signed winger Anthony Mantha to a two-year contract worth $4.75 million per season.
Mantha joins the Devils as their fifth-highest paid forward. The Quebec native played for the Pittsburgh Penguins last season where he set a career-high in games played (81), goals (33), assists (31), and points (64). In his career, Mantha has 367 points in 588 games over 11 seasons. The move brings the Devils down to $3.85 million in cap space, with just one restricted free agent left to sign in Topias Vilén.
The Contract
The Devils will pay Mantha $5.4 million in year one and $4.1 million in year two. There is no trade protection as part of this deal.
If the Devils were going to sign a player like Mantha, it was going to be for a low-risk, high-reward contract like this one. AFP Analytics projected him to sign a contract worth $6,354,400 over four seasons, so general manager Sunny Mehta was able to get the winger significantly under market value. The lighter cap hit could allow for more additions this summer to further bolster the Devils’ already improved depth.
Fit With the Team
Going into this offseason, one of the most glaring needs for the Devils was a top-six winger. Mehta is hoping he filled that hole with Mantha.
There are a few question marks for the soon to be 32-year-old, though. The first is health, last season was the first time since 2017-18 that Mantha has hit the 80-game plateau. At his age and with his injury history, there could be concerns about him playing a full season, especially with the addition of two more games to the schedule.
Secondly is his playoff pedigree. In 20 career postseason games, Mantha has zero goals and just seven assists. For whatever reason, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound winger has not been able to score in the postseason.
Lastly, he is surely due for some goal-scoring regression in 2026-27. Mantha shot a career-best 21.7% in 2025-26. His career mark is 13.8%. He’s always finished at a strong rate throughout his career but repeating an effort above 20% for a third-straight season would be an extremely tall task.
Player card via Evolving Hockey.
However, the Devils are just looking to get to the playoffs first, and when healthy in the regular season, Mantha has been relatively consistent. His career 82-game pace is 25 goals and 51 points. If the Devils can get that production out of Mantha for the next couple of seasons for the cap hit he’s signed to, everyone top-down should be thrilled.
Every summer the Devils add a winger with the question of, “can he play with Jack Hughes?” With Mantha, they may have just found an answer.
Final Thoughts
The Devils are looking to get back to the postseason, and Mantha should help with that. If he continues his production from Pittsburgh, you have a legitimate top-six piece for cheap over the next two seasons. If he regresses and finishes with 20 goals and 40 points in 70 games, that’s still not bad value. And if things go completely awry over the next two seasons, his deal should be easy enough to move.
Overall, this is another smart addition by Sunny Mehta. In just under three months on the job, he’s reworked the Devils’ cap situation while massively improving their organizational depth. With about two months until training camp opens, let’s see what else Sunny has in store.